Ann Turner Cook obit

Original Gerber baby Ann Turner Cook dies at 95, company says

 

She was not on the list.

The original Gerber baby Ann Turner Cook died Friday at the age of 95, Gerber announced.

Turner was just four months old in 1926 when a neighbor sketched the portrait of her in charcoal that would later become the Gerber’s logo.

The picture was selected by Gerber as the face of a baby food advertising campaign in 1928 and later became the company’s logo in 1931, according to their website.

“Gerber is deeply saddened by the passing of Ann Turner Cook, the original Gerber baby, whose face was sketched to become the iconic Gerber logo more than 90 years ago,” Gerber wrote in an Instagram post. “Many years before becoming an extraordinary mother, teacher and writer, her smile and expressive curiosity captured hearts everywhere and will continue to live on as a symbol for all babies. We extend our deepest sympathies to Ann’s family and to anyone who had the pleasure of knowing her.”

The Gerber website said the identity of the original baby was mystery for many years with guesses ranging from movie stars Humphrey Bogart and Elizabeth Taylor to Senator Bob Dole. In 1978, Turner revealed it was her.

Born Ann Leslie Turner in Westport, Connecticut, she was the daughter of a syndicated cartoonist Leslie Turner, who drew the comic strip Captain Easy for decades. The family's neighbor was the artist Dorothy Hope Smith, who did a charcoal drawing of Ann when she was a baby. In 1928, when Gerber announced it was looking for baby images for its upcoming line of baby food, Smith's drawing was submitted and subsequently chosen. It was trademarked in 1931. The drawing of Ann Turner Cook has since been used on virtually all Gerber baby food packaging. Cook's identity was a secret until 1978. In 1990, Cook appeared as a guest on To Tell the Truth in a one-on-one segment.

Her family moved to Orlando, Florida, later in her childhood. She received a bachelor's degree in English from Southern Methodist University and a master's degree in English education from University of South Florida. She was a sister in the sorority Pi Beta Phi.

Cook taught at Oak Hill elementary school in Florida, and then at Madison Junior High School, in Tampa, Florida. In 1966, she joined the English Department of Tampa's Hillsborough High School, where she eventually rose to being the school's department chairwoman. Students there dedicated the 1972 Hilsborean school yearbook to Cook, who sponsored the book. In it, students described her as "a teacher who really communicates with the students" and who, "without any complaints ... has stayed late, worked nights, and with quiet efficiency supported her staff in their monumental task".

After retiring from teaching, Cook became a novelist. A member of the Mystery Writers of America, she was the author of the Brandy O'Bannon series of mystery novels set on Florida's Gulf Coast. The adventures of Florida reporter and amateur sleuth O'Bannon are detailed in Trace Their Shadows (2001) and Shadow over Cedar Key (2003).